Thursday, February 25, 2010

Mareile Tinzmann / Liliana Ojeda

These exuberant acrylic "sea anemones" aren't even the most interesting pieces on her site. That would be the wooden walking cane that she turned into a necklace. A walking cane! Into a necklace! Welcome to the mind of Germany's Mareile Tinzmann.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Elizabeth Yates / Emmanuel Lacoste

These rings bring to mind that Steven Wright joke: "I want to get a tattoo of myself on my entire body  only two inches taller." Silicone finger rings by Oregon artist Elizabeth Yates, featuring replicas of her own digits  life-sized, not two inches longer.

Bonus link: also concerned with bodily matters is French artist Emmanuel Lacoste, who made the finger brace rings pictured here. See more from his anatomically-themed collection on his site, ex-carne.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Jacek Byczewski / Mitchell Turnbough

If he doesn't already, Jacek Byczewski really ought to take up snowboarding, because he's got a great sense of balance. The Polish jeweller artfully straddles the line between traditional and new, creating diamond rings that feel classic but are never, ever ordinary.

Bonus link: some more pieces that mix "new" and "traditional." These rings by New Jersey interior designer Mitchell Turnbough mimic the shape of traditional diamond solitaires but are made entirely of white gold (including the "gem").

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Scott Beckerman / Radu Designs

Considering his design aesthetic (look no further than these stunning rings in quartz and gems), it will not shock you to learn that California's Scott Beckerman also designs sleek perfume bottles for the likes of Dolce & Gabbana  a job he was seemingly born to do. I bet his high school guidance counselor had no problem determining the colour of his parachute.

Above, more of his sleek and chunky rings in agate and jasper.

Bonus link:Brazil's Radu Designs has more chunky rings in solid quartz and aquamarine for your perusal. Theirs are topped with flowers in 18k gold.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

2212 / Jo Luping

For me, rings are like drugs  but I'm perfectly open to alternative medicines, too, like this acupuncture ring by Argentina's 2212 (2212°C being the boiling point of silver).

Below, some of her botanical bursts:

Bonus link: you've seen cabbages before (just look at the ring above!) but have you seen a cabbage tree? New Zealand's Jo Luping offers this photogram ring featuring the cabbage tree, a plant endemic to her home country.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Stephanie Schwallie / Renee Andriole / Rock Cakes

What to wear to a "Lost" finale party: "Safety Jewelry" by Ohio artist Stephanie Schwallie, featuring images from airline safety cards. The ring was a typewriter key in its former (or is it parallel?) life.

Maybe, like me, you're more of a "Dexter" fan. L.A.'s Renee Andriole has an intriguing collection of blade rings  just in case you run into a blood splatter analyst in a dark alley.

Bonus link:Television ring by UK jeweller Sarah Pugh of Rock Cakes. She's even thoughtfully tilted the screen at such an angle that makes it easy to watch the screen... for the serious addict.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Patrick Shureb / Kolodesign

Conspicuous consumption, peak oil, or just a plumbing snafu? Like some golden version of Rorschach's test, these spewing rings could mean many things. For their creator, Michigan's Patrick Shureb, they symbolize "Exorbitance."

Bonus link: "Exorbitant" is definitely one word that comes to mind when I look at this wild, spiralling, diamond spectacle by Spain's Kolodesign.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Denise J. Bonaimo / DAC Metals

I'm fairly close to a lot of the Olympic activity so the next couple of weeks are going to be a bit crazy. Still, let the games begin  starting with these Mouse Trap game-piece rings (in Olympic colours, no less) by California's Denise J. Bonaimo. Her "Game" series is full of jewellery made of bingo tokens, Battleship pieces, pick-up sticks and more. As much fun as a barrel of monkeys! (She has those, too.)

Bonus link:This is the "Scrabble" ring by San Francisco's DAC Metals (David Casella). Though not tile-shaped, you can play with it by arranging and re-arranging the random letters.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Camilla Teglio / Kostantia Manthou

A juxtaposition of the traditional and the contemporary: Italy's Camilla Teglio combines clean silver lines with wood blocks covered in Japanese washi paper. (English really ought to have more words that begin with juxt, don't you think?)

Some more samples of her work, above.

Bonus link: another Italy-based designer concerned with "then and now" is Kostantia Manthou (originally from Greece); these bronze rings are from her "slices of history" series.

Monday, February 08, 2010

momocreatura / Atelier VM / miniaturas en metal

It's Morbid Monday, and another installment in our on-going series, Japanese Designers Who Love Bloodied Animals. These killer rings are by London-based Momoko Tamura of momocreatura.

Before you sic PETA on me, here's a herd of perfectly intact animals by Atelier VM (Italy's Viola Naj-Oleari and Marta Caffarelli).

And while we're on the topic of sculpted animal rings, I finally have a chance to post these  the only anteater rings I've ever seen! The first version, on the left, is from 2007; on the right is the latest version. By Argentina's Rita Bambidele Hampton of miniaturas en metal.

Bonus link: one more sculpted bird, this time from Los Angeles jeweller Gara Danielle. The wrap-around eagle ranges from $126 to $500, depending on your choice of stone (for the eyes) and metal.

About Me

Hi! Visit the shop at thecarrotbox.com and get the full version of the blog at thecarrotbox.com/news! I stopped putting a full copy of the blog here because I think Google thought I was some copycat weirdo.